These Merced middle schoolers just won a high school dominated competition

The annual Quiz Bowl at the California Scholarship Federation/California Junior Scholarship Federation spring conference was originally started in 1995 as a high school competition.

Last year, the competition was opened up to middle school students. And this year, a team from Merced’s Cruickshank Middle School won, beating out high school teams from across central California, according to a Merced City School District news release.

Cruickshank students Samuel Stalnaker, Daniel Chen and Zachary Robinson beat Visalia’s El Diamante High School by one point for the victory during Saturday’s competition in Hanford.

“These boys held their own as random questions from literature, geography, history, math, and science were projected on a screen while the proctor read them aloud,” said Wendy May, the students’ adviser.

In addition to the Quiz Bowl trophy, Daniel and Zachary were two of five applicants who received the Marian Huhn Award that recognizes eighth graders for academic excellence and service to school and community, the release states. The award came with a $250 cash prize.

The winning middle schoolers were also interviewed on Your Central Valley news.

California Scholarship Federation and California Junior Scholarship Federation are working to ensure that all advisers receive important news and information about awards, dues, and other opportunities and obligations.

Over the past three months a large number of advisers have not opened emails we sent using our MailChimp email . It is probable that you have not seen those emails because they are in your spam/promotions folder or are blocked by your school’s email server spam settings.